Sunday comes down to Patriot flash vs. Raven bash

Speaking about the Baltimore Ravens this week, Patriots linebacker Tully Banta-Cain was down to earth. Much like today's opponent.

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By JONATHAN COMEY

southcoasttoday.com

By JONATHAN COMEY

Posted Jan. 10, 2010 at 12:01 AM

By JONATHAN COMEY
Posted Jan. 10, 2010 at 12:01 AM

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Speaking about the Baltimore Ravens this week, Patriots linebacker Tully Banta-Cain was down to earth.

Much like today's opponent.

"They're a team that just does what they do," he said. "They line up and play. They don't try to trick you out or overly scheme you. They're going to go out there and line up and play smash-mouth football and we're going to have to do the same."

For Banta-Cain's sake and that of his Patriots team, let's hope that the game plan isn't actually going to be an attempt to match brawn with the Baltimore bullies. It's a battle they likely won't win.

To win, the Patriots will need to bring out all of their various bells, whistles and tricks, and hope that they work well enough to beat an extremely sound and talented opponent.

New England is good in the trenches, but the Ravens are better. Baltimore runs the ball with force, and the Patriots' front has been far from stout. Baltimore running backs Ray Rice and Willis McGahee — who combined to match the production of Tennessee's Chris Johnson this year — will almost certainly get theirs today, with or without Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren.

On the other side of the ball, the Ravens' front seven is to opposing running games what Joe Pesci was to mob movies.

Trouble.

Baltimore has the best run defense in the league, and even the most perfect balance of the Pats' four running backs is unlikely to find much success against them. On Oct. 4 against Baltimore, the Pats used the run as the pawns in their attack, totaling 30 carries for 85 yards with a long run of 12.

However, the Patriots have four key assets that the Ravens can not match, and all four must be on top of their game today: Bill Belichick, Randy Moss, Tom Brady and "the 12th man."

Belichick and Brady are unassailable, and while the Gillette faithful can be a little complacent during the regular season, they'll certainly be in full throat today.

As a combination, Belichick, Brady and red-white-and-blue home cooking is as lethal as rattlesnake venom with a hemlock chaser. The Pats are 62-10 under Brady in Foxboro; without even consulting a calculator, that can be verified as extremely good.

But what about Moss? He had his big three-touchdown game to silence the critics against Jacksonville, and that was surely good for his psyche. However, he also has gone more than two months without a 100-yard game. And in the 2007 playoffs, he was notably absent — seven catches and one TD in the Super Bowl run.

Depending on who you listen to, the loss of Wes Welker will be somewhere between earth-shattering and unnoticeable. Julian Edelman, the amazing one-armed rookie quarterback turned receiver, has inspired confidence with his solid play, but he's not what Welker is either. No. 83 will be missed, and in such an even match-up, his absence puts even more pressure on Moss.

Today against Baltimore's sometimes loose secondary, Moss needs to fight through double teams, get deep and make big plays. (The Pats will need to take some chances to make it happen.) Defensively, they need to count on Baltimore's predictability and use it against them, forcing Joe Flacco to make mistakes.

In the Oct. 4 meeting, New England won the turnover battle 2-1 and the penalty battle 85 yards to 41, but Baltimore was a Mark Clayton drop from winning the game.

The Ravens have improved on both sides of the ball since, while the Patriots have been alternately excellent and maddening — an inconsistency that stands as the biggest worry for a team that's historically been as consistent a playoff force as the league has ever seen.

"We had problems with them in everything: offensively, defensively, special teams, running game, passing game," Belichick said of the first meeting. "It was a very competitive game. We know we've got our work cut out for us. I think they've improved over the course of the year.

"I hope we have."

At least a few SouthCoast folks will have divided loyalties today.

New Bedford High football Hall of Famer Clarence Brooks is the Ravens' defensive line coach, and Brooks still has a lot of rooters in the area — including Clarence Sr., his dad.

Although he played offensive guard at UMass after graduating from NBH, Brooks has coached defense for his entire NFL career. He's got a great group of D linemen in Baltimore, including Pro Bowler Haloti Ngata.

"Coach Brooks is somebody who makes me better and constantly demands the best out of me," Ngata told the Baltimore Sun.

Clarence isn't the only member of the family on the Ravens' staff. His son Jason joined the team this year as an offensive assistant.

As Belichick would surely stress, the Pats' playoff history doesn't mean much when it comes to the now. But the Pats' 8-0 home record in the playoffs under Belichick is even more impressive when you look at how the defenses have played, allowing 12, 20, 6, 3, 3, 14, 14 and 13 points. Wow. ... Baltimore has the reputation as a team that gets sacks while the Pats are criticized for their lack of pressure, but New England actually had only one fewer sack (32-31). ... The Ravens' director of player personnel, Eric DeCosta, is a Taunton High graduate. ... This stat has been out there a bit, but the previous three times the Patriots went undefeated at home in the regular season (2003, 2004, 2007), they made the Super Bowl. ... Twenty-five of the 53 Patriots on the active roster have never appeared in the postseason before, including Sammy Morris (injured in 2007), Leigh Bodden and Sam Aiken.

Ravens 21, Patriots 17: I'm not really comfortable in the role of "guy picking against the Patriots." I couldn't have more respect for the players and the organization, and it's not as if they're a team with absolutely no shot at something big.

However, I do like the Ravens to win this one. The Patriots are only really excellent at one thing right now — passing the ball — and they're down a man, in freezing temperatures and facing a good secondary. Baltimore's run game is good enough to control the clock, and if the Ravens get up early, it's going to be extremely hard for New England to get back.

The Ravens' penalty issues are in the forefront and Belichick needs to use it to his advantage. If I'm him, my plan involves throwing deep to Moss no less than 5-7 times, damn the torpedoes.

A lot rests on Belichick. With the exception of the improbable 2001 team, he's never faced a bigger challenge and he's never had less help. He knows he can count on Brady, but who else?

Baltimore's eggs are in many more baskets. They have more good players, plenty of playoff experience, and on this day — even in Foxboro, where the Patriots never lose — they'll have more points.

Peyton Manning wasn't an undeserving MVP, but I do think that Drew Brees and Philip Rivers deserved it more. Of the three, Manning had the best defense behind him and the worst numbers, and the Saints and Chargers had equal seasons team-wise. In a year with so many great QB performances, how come the guy with the sixth-best passer rating wins it? Oh yeah, because he's Peyton Manning "»

Speaking of Manning, Indy's tackles had an incredibly clean season protecting him. At right tackle, Ryan Diem was beaten for only a single sack and wasn't whistled for holding once in 15 starts. On the left side, Charlie Johnson and Tony Ugoh allowed 2½ sacks, but also didn't get a holding call. So that's 614 dropbacks, 3½ sacks and no holding penalties from the Colt tackles. Not bad. "»

I thought the worst postseason award handed out thus far was the Comeback Player of the Year award for Brady. He did bounce back nicely, but how does he beat out Vince Young? Young came back from a season spent benched, mocked and generally disregarded to put together a legendary run for the Titans. "»

Pete Carroll's return to the NFL with Seattle is a boost for the franchise and should be a success. They have an owner with deep pockets, a great fan base and two first-round picks this year: No. 6 and Denver's No. 14. If they add a young QB to learn from Matt Hasselbeck for a year or two, the turnaround should be fairly swift. "»

The 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame came out Friday, and this year's class promises to be an exciting one. Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice are the headliners, but I'm rooting for linebacker Rickey Jackson — the Jim Rice of the NFL. All this guy did was produce and win, and he deserves a spot.

Jonathan Comey is the sports editor of The Standard-Times. Contact him at jcomey@s-t.com